An example of a good battle report

Recently I wrote a scathing post about the deterioration of quality in the battle reports presented by Games Workshop, particularly in White Dwarf. It was called  The-sad-sad-state-of-battle-reports. Well today I received the recent Warlord Games newsletter which had a link to a Bolt Action battle report that I decided to check out. I have been itching for over a year now to play, or even observe, a game of BA, as I have very much enjoyed reading the rules. I had hoped, unlike the sad sad "battle reports" White Dwarf presents these days, that this would be a good and educational read.

And it was! I was very impressed with the report! Read it here: bolt-action-battle-report

"Budda budda budda." -Or any gun-firing effect onomatopoeia from a Sgt. Rock comic! 

Why was this better than a current White Dwarf battle report? 

• Clean, step-by-step presentation
• An effort was made to clearly present rules. A teaching aid if you will, but not dumbed down.
• Nice, honest photographs. Yes, they are a miniature showcase, but not presented at the expense of the report itself. In more recent WD reports, it almost feels like the flashy, over-populated photos are made first, and the "report" is written around them! This Bolt Action report didn't feel nearly as staged and I could believe that these photos were of the actual game table (sans dice of course).
• The players explained why they did what they did and remarked at the end of the report. This occasionally still happens in WD, I just found this to be more believable I guess because neither player suggested a product that they wish they had purchased in order to get a different result! 
• I didn't have to pay $4 to be disappointed! In fact, you can read this report for FREE!

The stage is set, and very well presented!

Over all, a well done presentation. Not too long, not too short. Clearly written and presented. Well done Warlord, clearly the chaps there remember how battle reports should be written. Although you guys didn't use tactical maps, this was clearly a small game and the report reads fine without them. When you guys do write a report for a bigger battle, I would suggest incorporating a few maps as this does aid the narrative of following along with the course of the battle. But a complete image of the board that explained the scenario's objectives and deployment zone was presented in this report and was well done indeed! I look forward to reading more battle reports from Warlord, especially of their other game systems (Hint, Hint: Judge Dredd and the Gates of Antarres).

Images used are copywrite Warlord Games, and are from the Warlord Games website, and are presented here for review purposes, not as a challenge to copywrite,